Honorable Festivity: An Oxymoron? | Prof. Michael Foley

0:04 Narrator: Welcome to the Thomistic Institute podcast. Narrator: Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual tradition in the university, the Narrator: church, and the wider public square. Narrator: The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Thomistic Narrator: Institute chapters around the world. Narrator: To learn more and to attend these events, visit us at Thomistic Institute Narrator: dot org. Prof. Michael Foley: Thank you very much, and it's a real delight to be with you on Prof. Michael Foley: this intellectual retreat together. Prof. Michael Foley: I've had some experiences teaching or talking, to Mystic Prof. Michael Foley: Institute chapters, but this is the first retreat that I've been Prof. Michael Foley: a part of. Prof. Michael Foley: And what a fun theme. Prof. Michael Foley: And as father mentioned earlier tonight, perhaps a fitting contrast Prof. Michael Foley: is spring break, which is breaking out across the country where we Prof. Michael Foley: see many examples perhaps of dishonorable festivity.

0:53 Prof. Michael Foley: And that's one of the reasons why I raised the question whether Prof. Michael Foley: honorable festivity is an oxymoron, Prof. Michael Foley: which you may recall is a figure of speech in which Prof. Michael Foley: seemingly contradictory terms appear side by Prof. Michael Foley: side. Prof. Michael Foley: The word oxymoron is an oxymoron because Prof. Michael Foley: oxy is Greek for sharp and moron is Greek Prof. Michael Foley: for dull. Prof. Michael Foley: And, of course, there are all sorts of running jokes about whether certain terms Prof. Michael Foley: in our language are oxymorons. Prof. Michael Foley: For example, military intelligence, Prof. Michael Foley: business ethics, Prof. Michael Foley: cancel culture, Prof. Michael Foley: which I thought was really astute because if it's canceling, it's not a culture.

1:47 Prof. Michael Foley: Right? Prof. Michael Foley: It's a negation. Prof. Michael Foley: But my personal favorite, Microsoft Works. Prof. Michael Foley: So the question for tonight is, Prof. Michael Foley: is honorable festivity one of these oxymorons? Prof. Michael Foley: Because if I mentioned to you festivity, Prof. Michael Foley: feasting, partying, what images come to mind? Prof. Michael Foley: Are they images perhaps of excess, Prof. Michael Foley: right, of a a lack of decorum perhaps? Prof. Michael Foley: Whereas if I ask you to picture something honorable, Prof. Michael Foley: you might picture someone doing the right thing but maybe not having a lot Prof. Michael Foley: of fun.

2:35 Prof. Michael Foley: Dying for your country is honorable. Prof. Michael Foley: Probably not a lot of fun. Prof. Michael Foley: Right? Prof. Michael Foley: So to think of this in terms of Plato's three parts of the soul, Prof. Michael Foley: it's it's as if festivity is all the physical appetites, Prof. Michael Foley: whereas honor is just simply spiritedness, thumas, seeking Prof. Michael Foley: glory, but this is like oil and water. Prof. Michael Foley: Right? Prof. Michael Foley: So how do we sort of put these two things together? Prof. Michael Foley: Well, let me cut to the chase and say, I do believe these Prof. Michael Foley: two things can be put together. Prof. Michael Foley: And therefore, in a sense, it's not an oxymoron. Prof. Michael Foley: It's not an intrinsic contradiction. Prof. Michael Foley: And I will simply rely on the authority of Saint Paul who states, Prof. Michael Foley: whatever you eat or drink or whatever else you do, Prof. Michael Foley: do all to the glory of God.

3:24 Prof. Michael Foley: So according to Saint Paul, you can Prof. Michael Foley: eat and drink to the glory of God. Prof. Michael Foley: So what I'm going to do tonight Prof. Michael Foley: is defend that thesis in three parts. Prof. Michael Foley: First, I would like to discuss the human Prof. Michael Foley: transformation of our physical appetites, Prof. Michael Foley: our animal appetites. Prof. Michael Foley: Second, I would like to talk about the Catholic transformation Prof. Michael Foley: of that human transformation. Prof. Michael Foley: And then third, I would like to discuss some modern complications Prof. Michael Foley: to honorable festivity and how we might respond to Prof. Michael Foley: them.

4:10 Prof. Michael Foley: So number one, Prof. Michael Foley: there is a human transformation Prof. Michael Foley: of our basic biological desire to eat Prof. Michael Foley: and survive and gain nutrition. Prof. Michael Foley: The strange thing about human feasting is that it is Prof. Michael Foley: based on a very low biological act that in Prof. Michael Foley: a sense seeks to be high and dramatic. Prof. Michael Foley: I turn to an insight from father Bernard Lonergan, who was a disciple Prof. Michael Foley: of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Prof. Michael Foley: Human desires are not simply the biological Prof. Michael Foley: impulses of hunger for eating.

4:53 Prof. Michael Foley: Indeed, man is an animal for whom mere Prof. Michael Foley: animality is indecent. Prof. Michael Foley: Think about that line. Prof. Michael Foley: It's a great line. Prof. Michael Foley: Man is an animal for whom mere animality Prof. Michael Foley: is indecent. Prof. Michael Foley: So we have a basic desire for clothes, and yet Prof. Michael Foley: we don't simply choose clothes for protection. Prof. Michael Foley: We choose clothes to make a statement. Prof. Michael Foley: We choose clothes to enter into the drama of human existence Prof. Michael Foley: in a certain key. Prof. Michael Foley: Right? Prof. Michael Foley: It's not just a symbol of mere practicality. Prof. Michael Foley: And it is true that eating and drinking are biological performances.

5:37 Prof. Michael Foley: But in man, they are dignified by their spatial Prof. Michael Foley: and psychological separation from the farm, Prof. Michael Foley: the slaughterhouse, the kitchen. Prof. Michael Foley: They are ornamented by the elaborate equipment of the dining room, Prof. Michael Foley: by the table manners imposed upon children, Prof. Michael Foley: by the deportment of adult convention. Prof. Michael Foley: Not only then is man capable of aesthetic liberation Prof. Michael Foley: from the drag of biological purposeness purposiveness Prof. Michael Foley: and artistic creativity, Prof. Michael Foley: but his first work of art is his own Prof. Michael Foley: living.

6:19 Prof. Michael Foley: That is to say, we take this base act of Prof. Michael Foley: eating, which we share with the rest of the animal kingdom, Prof. Michael Foley: and we turn it into a work of art. Prof. Michael Foley: Think of Downton Abbey Prof. Michael Foley: and the etiquette of dining, how every night was, in a Prof. Michael Foley: sense, a performance, Prof. Michael Foley: a grand high opera. Prof. Michael Foley: Right? Prof. Michael Foley: So there is a human cultural transformation Prof. Michael Foley: of this this very simple act of eating. Prof. Michael Foley: And we do this all the time, but isn't that kinda weird that Prof. Michael Foley: we would do that? Prof. Michael Foley: Dogs don't worry about this. Prof. Michael Foley: Cows don't worry about it.

7:01 Prof. Michael Foley: And yet we've taken this simple act and turned it into something Prof. Michael Foley: dramatic. Prof. Michael Foley: There are two peculiarities that can be noted from this Prof. Michael Foley: theatrical appropriation of the biological. Prof. Michael Foley: The first is the tension between the shareable and the unshareable. Prof. Michael Foley: What I mean is this. Prof. Michael Foley: Let's be honest. Prof. Michael Foley: Eating is an essentially unshareable act. Prof. Michael Foley: That is to say, you know, if I bring in a pizza pizza Prof. Michael Foley: fortunately, we've all eaten, so I'm not gonna make any of you hungry right Prof. Michael Foley: now. Prof. Michael Foley: And, you know, I pass the pizza around, I'm sharing. Prof. Michael Foley: But it's but the more I share, the less pizza there is.

7:44 Prof. Michael Foley: So it sure. Prof. Michael Foley: Sharing a pizza is possible, but it's not a perfectly shareable good. Prof. Michael Foley: It's not a perfectly shareable good. Prof. Michael Foley: On the other hand, things like knowledge or virtue are perfectly Prof. Michael Foley: shareable goods. Prof. Michael Foley: If I teach you that two plus two is four, that doesn't mean there's Prof. Michael Foley: less of that knowledge in my head. Prof. Michael Foley: If I teach you how to be courageous, that doesn't mean that, well, Prof. Michael Foley: now I've gotta be a coward because there's less courage. Prof. Michael Foley: I gave you some, and now I don't have any. Prof. Michael Foley: Right? Prof. Michael Foley: So there are some goods that are not perfectly shareable. Prof. Michael Foley: There are others that are.

8:24 Prof. Michael Foley: Food is not a perfectly shareable good. Prof. Michael Foley: And yet what's fascinating about our conventions of dining and feasting Prof. Michael Foley: is that we yoke it to good dining, good Prof. Michael Foley: feasting, to perfectly shareable goods. Prof. Michael Foley: We we yoke it to things like conversation Prof. Michael Foley: and a goal to sort of ascend Prof. Michael Foley: to things like wisdom, which are perfectly shareable goods. Prof. Michael Foley: The second peculiarity is similar to the first. Prof. Michael Foley: As I've said, eating is essentially a low activity in in the service of Prof. Michael Foley: the lowest part of ourselves.

9:05 Prof. Michael Foley: We eat to nourish our bodies and then our bodies digest what we Prof. Michael Foley: eat. Prof. Michael Foley: And yet, with the art of feasting, we gladly join the body's Prof. Michael Foley: lowest functions to some of the soul's highest activities, Prof. Michael Foley: to fellowship, to a discussion of ideas, to an experience Prof. Michael Foley: of music, to wit and to banter, to high romance, Prof. Michael Foley: to family memories. Prof. Michael Foley: Feasting involves a marriage of high and low. Prof. Michael Foley: Never mind that different cultures define the high and low differently. Prof. Michael Foley: The interesting point is every culture maintains Prof. Michael Foley: this distinction of high and low and yokes it Prof. Michael Foley: in the etiquette of sharing a meal.

9:54 Prof. Michael Foley: Nathaniel Hawthorne in House of the Seven Gables has a great Prof. Michael Foley: description of the sublime effects of drinking a cup Prof. Michael Foley: of coffee. Prof. Michael Foley: The subtle essence acted on him like a charmed Prof. Michael Foley: draft Prof. Michael Foley: and caused the opaque substance of his animal being Prof. Michael Foley: to grow transparent or at least Prof. Michael Foley: translucent Prof. Michael Foley: so that a spiritual glean was transmitted through it Prof. Michael Foley: with a clearer luster than hitherto. Prof. Michael Foley: I love that description. Prof. Michael Foley: I think it is true for coffee, but I also think it's true for Prof. Michael Foley: dining in general.

10:38 Prof. Michael Foley: Making our opaque animal substance Prof. Michael Foley: translucent with spiritual gleams. Prof. Michael Foley: That is the function of a good cup of java, and it is the Prof. Michael Foley: goal of all fine dining and meal sharing. Prof. Michael Foley: In the great movie and story, Babette's Feast, the Danish puritanical Prof. Michael Foley: dinner guests agree not to be epicurean or sibiritic Prof. Michael Foley: in their praise of Babette's French culinary skills, Prof. Michael Foley: But they still enjoy the meal, rightly preferring wine to water. Prof. Michael Foley: The result is a veritable sacramental event where the low is Prof. Michael Foley: subsumed into the high and energizes the high with the guests Prof. Michael Foley: praising God in a hymn afterwards around the town Prof. Michael Foley: well.

11:31 Prof. Michael Foley: So this brings me to my second point. Prof. Michael Foley: So the the human, the cultural transforms the mere animal, Prof. Michael Foley: the mere biological, and then the Catholic Prof. Michael Foley: transforms that. Prof. Michael Foley: Just as the dramatic nature of man transforms Prof. Michael Foley: feeding into dining, Prof. Michael Foley: so too does the new covenant transform at least one act of dining Prof. Michael Foley: into something sacred and sanctifying. Prof. Michael Foley: The Eucharist, Prof. Michael Foley: instituted during the most important and solemn dining event Prof. Michael Foley: of the Jewish Prof. Michael Foley: year, involves the consumption of a food and drink that perfectly unites the shareable Prof. Michael Foley: and the unshareable, the high and the low.

12:16 Prof. Michael Foley: God lowered himself greatly when he became human through the mystery of the incarnation, Prof. Michael Foley: and he lowered himself further when he took the form of a servant, Prof. Michael Foley: but he lowered himself most of all when he took the form Prof. Michael Foley: of our food. Prof. Michael Foley: For food is far lower on the ladder of being than Prof. Michael Foley: the slave who prepares it or the master who eats it. Prof. Michael Foley: In the Eucharist then, the most high becomes the Prof. Michael Foley: most low. Prof. Michael Foley: Similarly, the Eucharist, like the miracles of the loaves and fishes that anticipated Prof. Michael Foley: it, rewrites the rules of the shareable and the unshareable, Prof. Michael Foley: with even the smallest particle of the host containing the entire Prof. Michael Foley: and entirely shareable person of Jesus Christ.

13:08 Prof. Michael Foley: And in addition to the holy sacrifice of the mass, early Christians Prof. Michael Foley: also hosted a separate meal after the service called Prof. Michael Foley: the agape or love feast, in which regular Prof. Michael Foley: food and drink were shared in fellowship. Prof. Michael Foley: It is noteworthy that the early church named this earthly non sacramental Prof. Michael Foley: feast after the perfectly shareable and divinely infused theological Prof. Michael Foley: virtue of caritas or agape, Prof. Michael Foley: even though strictly speaking, the love feast was about the distribution of goods Prof. Michael Foley: that are not perfectly shareable and the quelling of Prof. Michael Foley: unshareable appetites.

13:49 Prof. Michael Foley: I suspect the reason is that one of the aims of the Prof. Michael Foley: love feast was feeding the poor. Prof. Michael Foley: In the first recorded liturgical crisis of the church, Saint Prof. Michael Foley: Paul criticizes the Corinthians for not sharing with Prof. Michael Foley: the have nots at a love feast. Prof. Michael Foley: Caritas as the shareable love of God and neighbor Prof. Michael Foley: is supposed to elevate and transform Prof. Michael Foley: our unshareable urges and needs. Prof. Michael Foley: Saint Augustine defended the Agape meals by writing, Prof. Michael Foley: the poor feed on produce or meat.

14:30 Prof. Michael Foley: Thanks to the generosity of the rich. Prof. Michael Foley: That is a creature of God is fed by a creature Prof. Michael Foley: of God, which is in accord with human dining. Prof. Michael Foley: We'll return to Augustine's statement, a creature of God is Prof. Michael Foley: fed by a creature of God in a few moments. Prof. Michael Foley: For now, it is worth noting that even after the demise Prof. Michael Foley: of the agape meal in the Western churches, Prof. Michael Foley: liturgically oriented feasting has remained a staple of Catholic Prof. Michael Foley: life, Prof. Michael Foley: and such feasting traditionally includes the less fortunate. Prof. Michael Foley: To this day, the most festive season of the year, Prof. Michael Foley: Christmas time, also remains the season most Prof. Michael Foley: aware of the less fortunate.

15:21 Prof. Michael Foley: With hymns like Good King Wenceslaus Prof. Michael Foley: telling stories about Saint Nicholas throwing bags of coins down a Prof. Michael Foley: poor man's chimney, and customs like Boxing Day Prof. Michael Foley: reminding us during this holy time of the importance of charity Prof. Michael Foley: to the poor. Prof. Michael Foley: And I would point out in this season of Lent, Prof. Michael Foley: just as feasting was attached to the poor, so Prof. Michael Foley: was fasting. Prof. Michael Foley: The great fast of Lent is not simply a means of pruning Prof. Michael Foley: and restraining one's appetites, though it is that Prof. Michael Foley: It is also an act of charity and generosity.

16:02 Prof. Michael Foley: From the earliest centuries, the church has emphasized that Lenten Prof. Michael Foley: asceticism is meant to increase our love of God and of our Prof. Michael Foley: brothers in need. Prof. Michael Foley: Money saved because of fasting, for example, Prof. Michael Foley: should be given to the impoverished. Prof. Michael Foley: As Pope Saint Leo the Great put it, may the abstinence of the fasters Prof. Michael Foley: be the refreshment of the poor. Prof. Michael Foley: And in the words, the beautiful words of the Maronite liturgy, Prof. Michael Foley: how splendid is fasting that is adorned with charity. Prof. Michael Foley: Break your bread generously with one who is hungry. Prof. Michael Foley: Otherwise, yours is not fasting, but saving.

16:48 Prof. Michael Foley: So that is the the Catholic transformation Prof. Michael Foley: of human feasting and dining. Prof. Michael Foley: But in the third part, I'd like to talk about a couple of Prof. Michael Foley: things in modernity that complicate Prof. Michael Foley: these transformations. Prof. Michael Foley: There are three modern developments that are particularly challenging Prof. Michael Foley: for us today. Prof. Michael Foley: And I'd love to hear your thoughts about this afterwards. Prof. Michael Foley: The first complication Prof. Michael Foley: is the relatively recent decline of the family dinner. Prof. Michael Foley: The American College of Pediatricians reports that family time at the dinner table Prof. Michael Foley: and family conversation in general has declined by more Prof. Michael Foley: than thirty percent in thirty years.

17:39 Prof. Michael Foley: That's an astonishing drop. Prof. Michael Foley: One study suggests the decline is not that bad overall, but that low Prof. Michael Foley: income families have suffered disproportionately from this trend Prof. Michael Foley: because the parents have less control over their work schedule. Prof. Michael Foley: But we do know this, the loss of the family meal Prof. Michael Foley: is statistically linked among children and teens Prof. Michael Foley: to increased substance abuse, unwanted pregnancies, Prof. Michael Foley: depression, obesity, lower academic performance, Prof. Michael Foley: smaller vocabularies, Prof. Michael Foley: and reduced literary skills.

18:21 Prof. Michael Foley: Among adults, the decline in the family meal correlates to poor mental and Prof. Michael Foley: physical health and higher divorce rates. Prof. Michael Foley: Even dining among nonrelated adults Prof. Michael Foley: brings blessings to the group. Prof. Michael Foley: For example, they have done studies that have concluded Prof. Michael Foley: that firefighters Prof. Michael Foley: who have meals together have enhanced team performance. Prof. Michael Foley: Do you know that's one of the things about fire departments? Prof. Michael Foley: They're like on call for seventy two hours and they have to cook Prof. Michael Foley: for each other. Prof. Michael Foley: Unlike policemen, firemen always cook their own meals and eat Prof. Michael Foley: together when they're on duty.

19:04 Prof. Michael Foley: When my wife sees a a member of the Waco Fire Department in the Prof. Michael Foley: grocery store, she's always really happy because she knows he's cooking for his friends. Prof. Michael Foley: So that's pretty cool. Prof. Michael Foley: So the more we lose that, the more we lose the family dinner Prof. Michael Foley: because of our fluid society, the more it's gonna hurt these Prof. Michael Foley: these other transformations that I was talking about. Prof. Michael Foley: A second complication is what I call socioeconomic Prof. Michael Foley: segregation. Prof. Michael Foley: Maria Montessori, founder of the famous Montessori schools, has an interesting Prof. Michael Foley: argument. Prof. Michael Foley: She contends that prior to the twentieth century, rich and poor Prof. Michael Foley: lived cheek to jowl in the same neighborhoods, and that Prof. Michael Foley: this arrangement made it easier for the rich to be kind to the poor.

19:54 Prof. Michael Foley: As we see in the childhood stories of the kind princess who sends Prof. Michael Foley: help to the poor cottage next door, or of the good children Prof. Michael Foley: from the great house who carry food to the sick women in the neighboring Prof. Michael Foley: attic. Prof. Michael Foley: Today, our mono functional zoning laws combined with Prof. Michael Foley: the economic principles of the real estate market make it less likely Prof. Michael Foley: that rich and poor will live in the same neighborhood or even attend the Prof. Michael Foley: same parish. Prof. Michael Foley: This form of segregation makes it more difficult to exercise traditional Prof. Michael Foley: expressions of charity. Prof. Michael Foley: To give one example, there is an old custom from France that one cannot Prof. Michael Foley: eat the Christmas bread, the Christmas loaf, Prof. Michael Foley: until one has given a quarter of it to a poor person.

20:41 Prof. Michael Foley: If I were to practice this custom today in my adopted hometown of Waco, Prof. Michael Foley: Texas, I'd have to drive several miles from my suburban home Prof. Michael Foley: either to the downtown area in the hopes of finding a homeless person Prof. Michael Foley: or to a bad neighborhood and risk getting shot at. Prof. Michael Foley: And not without good reason for I would truly look like an idiot as Prof. Michael Foley: I drove around waving a quarter of a loaf of bread and offering it Prof. Michael Foley: to strangers. Prof. Michael Foley: I do not have a solution to this problem, but at the very least, Prof. Michael Foley: I think that it is good to be aware of it. Prof. Michael Foley: That traditional Christian feasting always included Prof. Michael Foley: an awareness of the poor and a desire to Prof. Michael Foley: to to share that that unshareable banquet with them.

21:27 Prof. Michael Foley: And even if it's harder or more complicated for us to practice it, I Prof. Michael Foley: think it's it's an important thing to keep in mind. Prof. Michael Foley: The last complication Prof. Michael Foley: is an odd one. Prof. Michael Foley: Describing a sense declines Prof. Michael Foley: in dining practice, this may be almost sort of the opposite. Prof. Michael Foley: A strange Prof. Michael Foley: well, I'll just read it to you. Prof. Michael Foley: There's a a wonderful scholar named Mary Eberstadt Prof. Michael Foley: who, couple well, about a decade or so ago, Prof. Michael Foley: wrote an article entitled, is food the new Prof. Michael Foley: sex?

22:09 Prof. Michael Foley: She astutely observes that the contemporary West has Prof. Michael Foley: reversed its morality concerning food and sexual intimacy. Prof. Michael Foley: Whereas the previous generations were relatively indifferent Prof. Michael Foley: about what foods they ate and morally exacting about Prof. Michael Foley: the use and abuse of the procreative act, Prof. Michael Foley: today's citizens, Prof. Michael Foley: it's the opposite. Prof. Michael Foley: For today's citizens, there is a growing list Prof. Michael Foley: of morally charged verboten's about food Prof. Michael Foley: and a shrinking list of morally forbidden venereal Prof. Michael Foley: acts.

22:52 Prof. Michael Foley: Put bluntly, Eberstadt concludes, we live in an age of Prof. Michael Foley: mindful eating and mindless sex. Prof. Michael Foley: Mindful eating includes opposition to eating flesh Prof. Michael Foley: meat or endangered fish, to industrialized breeding Prof. Michael Foley: and farm factory slaughtering, to genetically modified Prof. Michael Foley: fruits and vegetables, and to pesticides and other Prof. Michael Foley: artificial agents. Prof. Michael Foley: It tends to be wary of gluten, trans fats, Prof. Michael Foley: dairy products, and fond of such terms as organic, Prof. Michael Foley: free range, grass fed, Prof. Michael Foley: free trade, sustainable, and local.

23:37 Prof. Michael Foley: Now I'm not necessarily saying I'm opposed to any of this. Prof. Michael Foley: I'm actually kind of a crunchy con, in my own way. Prof. Michael Foley: So Prof. Michael Foley: and I don't think that this mindful eating is necessarily Prof. Michael Foley: opposed to what we might call traditional sacramental eating, Prof. Michael Foley: but it does complicate things. Prof. Michael Foley: The new focus on both the morality and nutritional value of food Prof. Michael Foley: has the potential to turn the simple and unifying act of breaking Prof. Michael Foley: bread into an endlessly divisive ethical quagmire. Prof. Michael Foley: Aside from issues of health and fitness, we must now worry about how the Prof. Michael Foley: animals we eat were treated when alive and and how they were slaughtered.

24:17 Prof. Michael Foley: What impact the the pesticides used on our produce have on the environment, Prof. Michael Foley: and whether the workers who harvest our crops for us are fairly Prof. Michael Foley: compensated. Prof. Michael Foley: Again, these are valid concerns, and I do not belittle them. Prof. Michael Foley: As a matter of fact, I contend that it is even worse than Prof. Michael Foley: most people think. Prof. Michael Foley: If I choose to be vegetarian because I deplore the methods of modern Prof. Michael Foley: commercial ranching And for me, that one of those two statements is true. Prof. Michael Foley: I do deplore the methods of modern commercial ranching, but I'm not a vegetarian. Prof. Michael Foley: But let's say I chose to be a vegetarian because I deplored those methods. Prof. Michael Foley: I must still consider the insects killed by harmful pesticides to protect Prof. Michael Foley: my food and the effect of those chemicals on the soil, the water, and Prof. Michael Foley: the thickness of bird eggs.

25:07 Prof. Michael Foley: If I eat only organic vegetables, I still know that vegetables, like animals, Prof. Michael Foley: have mortal souls, according to Saint Thomas, and that I've taken a life Prof. Michael Foley: in order to save mine. Prof. Michael Foley: If I eat only fruits and nuts, which were never alive but the products Prof. Michael Foley: of living plants and trees, I must still acknowledge that these gardens, crops, and Prof. Michael Foley: orchards are protected by a system of violence, both natural Prof. Michael Foley: and artificial, by birds that devour depredating insects, Prof. Michael Foley: by hunters who keep the deer and feral hog populations at bay, Prof. Michael Foley: and by military industrial complex that keeps our agricultural land Prof. Michael Foley: safe from invasion. Prof. Michael Foley: And if I think historically, I cannot help but be saddened by the unjust Prof. Michael Foley: manner in which those lands were taken from their native inhabitants.

25:52 Prof. Michael Foley: It is always the case, as Augustine puts it, that one Prof. Michael Foley: creature of God feeds upon another. Prof. Michael Foley: And east of Eden, this feeding is tied inevitably Prof. Michael Foley: to a world that is red in tooth and claw and red from Prof. Michael Foley: the blood of Abel. Prof. Michael Foley: To put it simply, no matter how hard we scrub Prof. Michael Foley: our organic apples, there is still moral dirt on them. Prof. Michael Foley: Did I rub that in too much? Prof. Michael Foley: I do have some happy news, though. Prof. Michael Foley: I believe there's a partial solution to this complication and then a Prof. Michael Foley: more complete solution. Prof. Michael Foley: The partial solution is to privilege food that you yourself have raised or harvested, Prof. Michael Foley: such as fruits and vegetables from your garden, animals that you have farmed, ranched, Prof. Michael Foley: or hunted.

26:41 Prof. Michael Foley: And I do say yes to hunting because I'm in Texas. Prof. Michael Foley: And it's also arguably more ethical to hunt for your food than to shop Prof. Michael Foley: for it given the methods of modern commercial Prof. Michael Foley: hunting, ranching. Prof. Michael Foley: There's a great author of a show called MeatEater Prof. Michael Foley: by Steve Ranella. Prof. Michael Foley: He aptly describes the complex emotions that come with killing an animal Prof. Michael Foley: for food as one of gratitude, reverence, Prof. Michael Foley: guilt, and indebtedness. Prof. Michael Foley: I call this solution, this partial solution, the Wendell Berry Prof. Michael Foley: solution, a famous author.

27:22 Prof. Michael Foley: He has a great line. Prof. Michael Foley: To live, we must daily break the body Prof. Michael Foley: and shed the blood of creation. Prof. Michael Foley: When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, Prof. Michael Foley: it is a sacrament. Prof. Michael Foley: When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, Prof. Michael Foley: it is a desecration. Prof. Michael Foley: I am fond of the Wendell Berry solution, Prof. Michael Foley: but it is only a partial solution in my opinion Prof. Michael Foley: because it cannot be practiced by everyone and because it does not Prof. Michael Foley: by itself remove all the moral stains mentioned above.

28:04 Prof. Michael Foley: Wendell Berry wants everyone to live on a farm, which is great, but we're Prof. Michael Foley: not gonna be able to all do that. Prof. Michael Foley: Right? Prof. Michael Foley: So it is a partial solution. Prof. Michael Foley: I think a more complete solution is what I call the saving private Prof. Michael Foley: Ryan solution, Prof. Michael Foley: which I have named after Steven Spielberg's nineteen ninety eight blockbuster. Prof. Michael Foley: In the movie, several men die in order to save the life of private Prof. Michael Foley: James Ryan played by Matt Damon. Prof. Michael Foley: The dying words of the last man, captain John h Miller, Tom Hanks, Prof. Michael Foley: to private Ryan are, James, Prof. Michael Foley: earn this. Prof. Michael Foley: Earn it. Prof. Michael Foley: Decades later, an old James Ryan stands in front of Miller's Prof. Michael Foley: grave and says, Prof. Michael Foley: every day, I think about what you said to me that day on the Prof. Michael Foley: bridge.

28:55 Prof. Michael Foley: I tried to live my life the best I could. Prof. Michael Foley: I hope that was enough. Prof. Michael Foley: I hope that at least in your eyes, I've earned what Prof. Michael Foley: all of you have done for me. Prof. Michael Foley: I bring up the example of private Ryan not in order to draw a Prof. Michael Foley: moral equivalency between the death of soldiers and the consumption of meat, Prof. Michael Foley: but to put things in perspective. Prof. Michael Foley: Like it or not, we are all beneficiaries of blood Prof. Michael Foley: shed for us. Prof. Michael Foley: From the fallen heroes of our armed forces to Jesus Christ on the cross. Prof. Michael Foley: If a pig or a cow or even a carrot must die in order Prof. Michael Foley: for us to live, then let us earn it Prof. Michael Foley: by living our lives the best that we can.

29:42 Prof. Michael Foley: There should be something sobering about knowing that we are Prof. Michael Foley: at the top of the food chain. Prof. Michael Foley: Rather than make us arrogant and triumphant, it should fill us with a Prof. Michael Foley: sense of unworthiness and humility and purpose. Prof. Michael Foley: For to whom much is given, much is expected. Prof. Michael Foley: I end with a personal memory that exemplifies both the Wendell Prof. Michael Foley: Berry and Saving Private Ryan solutions. Prof. Michael Foley: One year, I asked a farmer friend if I could buy a goose from Prof. Michael Foley: him for our Christmas dinner. Prof. Michael Foley: He told me that I could have the goose for free on one condition. Prof. Michael Foley: I had to slaughter it and dress it myself.

30:25 Prof. Michael Foley: In encouraging the virtues of hands on husbandry, Prof. Michael Foley: my friend was promoting the Wendell Berry solution. Prof. Michael Foley: And it worked. Prof. Michael Foley: We ate that goose on Christmas with a reverence that we would Prof. Michael Foley: not have had if we had bought it dressed and packaged Prof. Michael Foley: at H E B. Prof. Michael Foley: When my wife later thanked my friend for his generosity, Prof. Michael Foley: he replied, oh, no. Prof. Michael Foley: Not at all. Prof. Michael Foley: It was an honor for this goose to end up on the Foley's Christmas Prof. Michael Foley: table rather than to die of old age or be killed by a Prof. Michael Foley: coyote. Prof. Michael Foley: An honor. Prof. Michael Foley: I am not sure that if we'd asked the goose, he would have told Prof. Michael Foley: us that it was an honor, that he would be willing to forego.

31:12 Prof. Michael Foley: But Prof. Michael Foley: nevertheless, Prof. Michael Foley: it is an honor and ennoblement for the Prof. Michael Foley: lower to participate in the higher. Prof. Michael Foley: When goose flesh becomes human flesh, it becomes part Prof. Michael Foley: of a higher reality, Prof. Michael Foley: that which we call the temple of the holy spirit. Prof. Michael Foley: This is true even when goose flesh nourishes thieves and other scoundrels. Prof. Michael Foley: For even the worst of sinners continue to bear the image of God, Prof. Michael Foley: and their bodies continue to participate in that ontological dignity. Prof. Michael Foley: And the holier the person is, the truer this principle is.

31:54 Prof. Michael Foley: Consider the singular honor bestowed upon the little lamb Prof. Michael Foley: that was our lord's last supper Prof. Michael Foley: to feed the son of god. Prof. Michael Foley: My friend's way of seeing things, in other words, is an example of the Prof. Michael Foley: Saving Private Ryan solution. Prof. Michael Foley: Both science and common sense tell us that animals, including us Prof. Michael Foley: rational animals, live off the deaths of others. Prof. Michael Foley: Rather than bemoan this fact of life or try to circumvent it, we Prof. Michael Foley: should live our lives worthy of these sacrifices. Prof. Michael Foley: Let us eat to keep the animal department of our nature functioning, and Prof. Michael Foley: let us conduct ourselves in a way that our position as Prof. Michael Foley: apex predators bears spiritual fruit.

32:40 Prof. Michael Foley: One of the benefits of mindful eating is that it beckons us Prof. Michael Foley: to a higher calling of redeeming our destruction and assimilation Prof. Michael Foley: of the lower by living according to what is highest in us Prof. Michael Foley: and what is higher than us. Prof. Michael Foley: Goose flesh has become our flesh, and our flesh through Prof. Michael Foley: a proper reception of the blessed sacrament is being incorporated Prof. Michael Foley: into the Eucharistic flesh of the risen Lord. Prof. Michael Foley: Let us earn the sacrifice that our Lord and his creation Prof. Michael Foley: have made for us. Prof. Michael Foley: Let us become better lovers of god, self, and neighbor fueled Prof. Michael Foley: by Eucharistic animal and vegetable life.

33:21 Prof. Michael Foley: Thank you. Narrator: Thanks for listening to this lecture on the Thomistic Institute podcast. Narrator: The generosity of people like you makes this podcast possible. Narrator: If you enjoy these talks, please consider showing your support at Narrator: w w w dot thymistic institute dot org slash Narrator: donate. Narrator: Your donation of even a dollar helps us reach more college students and many Narrator: others with the powerful truths of the faith, and it ensures Narrator: that we can keep publishing top notch lectures on this podcast. Narrator: Thanks a lot.